Street Guardian SG9665GC V2 Review

Introduction

The Street Guardian SG9665GC V2 is one of the best known cameras on the internet thanks to the presence on many dash cam forums and discussion boards by the manufacturer and various distributors. This was one of the reasons we were interested in carrying the dash cam as there is an abundance of troubleshooting and setup info available through a simple Google search. We're often hesitant to carry Chinese dash cams as the manufacturers not only provide no support but the manuals are incomprehensible, but nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to Street Guardian products. After-sales support aside though, there's definitely a lot more to what makes a good dash cam which is what we'll cover in our review.

Inside the Box

The SG9665GC is a fully loaded camera and comes packed with neat little accessories to enhance the user experience. There's extra mounts and even foam tape to make for a more secure fit. There's also a carrying pouch, a smartphone compatible card reader, and a high quality Transcend Micro SD card. Tools and mounting clips are included to make installation easier and a special string is included to help with removal as well. All in all Street Guardian has thrown in a lot with this camera, so much so that we were never really able to put it all back in the box after unboxing!

Design and Build Quality

The overall design of the SG9665GC is a familiar one to us as the body is very similar to our Skyview G6. Overall it's a very sleek looking camera but some aspects do show the entry level Chinese camera roots such as the menu layout, button click, and the click of the lens adjustment which aren't quite to the level of higher end Korean products. That being said the internals are entirely different from the generic A118/G6 dash cams and the overall build quality and long-term reliability should be significantly better than those entry level products. The metal lens housing is one of the only visual distinctions from the G6 but that alone is a significant upgrade as it is much more resistant to heat than plastic housings which have a tendency to shift out of focus. The SG9665GC V2 has been tested to operate in temperatures up to 90 degrees Celsius (194 F) which is far beyond what most of our customers will experience even when left in a parked car on a hot Summer day.

Skyview G6 on the left, Street Guardian on the right

Features and Video

This dash cam offers some of the highest quality components to deliver excellent video quality such as a Sony IMX CMOS sensor, 7 element glass lens, and the Novatek 96655 processor. It can take memory cards up to 200GB which is good for almost 30 hours of video on the SG9665. We were impressed with the video quality, especially at night as the lens looked crisp even with objects that were further away. As far as Full HD 30 frame per second cameras go, this is definitely one of the best on the market. That being said, nowadays we're seeing more and more options with 45 or 60 frames per second as well as 1296P or even 4K recording but it's safe to assume that very few of those options can offer the same build quality and reliability of the Street Guardian.

Features-wise the SG9665GC is relatively simple camera and doesn't offer WiFi connectivity or an automatic parking mode by motion detection. For that reason we only recommend running this camera in normal driving mode and don't see it as a good option for someone who wants to protect their vehicle when parked. While a camera like the BlackSys CH-100B might offer about 80% of the video performance, it's designed to protect your vehicle 24/7 which can prove to be invaluable during a hit and run situation.

Verdict

Our favourite thing about the SG9665GC is the user friendliness and dependability of this device. It does everything it's advertised to do very well and we think it's a great choice for many fleets who want a hassle free and simple user experience for their drivers. This dash cam offers the reliability, performance, and sleek design that many customers are looking for and if parking mode recording isn't a priority this is one of the best choices for 2016.